Tune In Tuesdays: Who Are You To The Core?

Hi Life in a Pile readers,

It’s the first Tune In Tuesday so I was a little nervous in my video (promise it’ll be better next time)! However, I wanted to do something different for you guys; I do a lot of preaching so it’s time for some practice. Tuesdays will be dedicated to learning and remembering ways to always be in tune with who you are. When you are in tune with yourself at all times, life gets a little easier; everything begins to align with things that make up your very being.

Grab pen and paper.

Exercise #1:

Write 5 words that make up who you are to the core. Things that will never change about you, no matter what life throws at you. (Skip 1-2 lines for each word)

Love.

Faith.

Woman.

Black.

Knowledge.

These 5 words are the core of my beliefs, values, and my life purpose. In other words, everything I do is because I believe in love. I have faith. I’m a woman. I’m black, and I love gaining knowledge.

Draw a vertical line. Answer the following questions next to each word.

Have you been staying true to this part of your core? Were you aware of this part of your core before you wrote it down? Have you compromised this part of your core for someone/something at all this year? Have you sacrificed this part of your core for someone/something at all this year? Are you happy with being driven by this daily? Do you wish you could change this about yourself?

The thing about your core is that you don’t get to add anything to it, life does. When I was a teen, being a woman didn’t mean much to me and neither did being black or having faith. Today? and now that I have almost mastered being in tune with who I am? There’s nothing that I do that isn’t driven by these things.

Exercise #2:

Write what your favorite color was at 11 years old on the left side of the paper. Write what your favorite color is now on the right side of the paper.

Your favorite color is probably the same, but are you the same person you were at 11? I doubt it. Sometimes our favorite color will be the only thing that never changes about us and that’s okay. Look back at the things you wrote down about your core.

On the left side of the paper, write down what was apart of your core at 11 and is still apart of your core today. On the right side, write down what has been added to your core as you got older. I’ve always loved gaining knowledge so I wrote it on the left side of my paper, but life added love, faith, black, and woman so I wrote those on the right side.

Did you compromise what’s been apart of your core since you were 11 when you held on to that toxic relationship? Did you ignore it when you wanted others to like you? Did you put it on the line to advance in your career? (questions to think about – don’t have to answer)

Staying true to your core is staying true to who you are and who you will always be.

Exercise #3:

Turn your paper over.

Write ‘WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, *insert name*?’ at the top of the page. (Yes, in all CAPS).

Write three sentences beginning with “I am ___.”

Write two sentences beginning with “I plan to___.”

Write one sentence beginning with “I used to ___.”

Fill in the blank: “I will never ____ again.”

Write one sentence beginning with “By next month I want to be ___.”

The key to tuning into who you are to the core is being honest with yourself. Face your fears. Face yourself.

Fold your paper. Put it in a secret place. Leave it there until next Tuesday.

Thanks for tuning in! I would love if you sent me responses to some of the questions.

If you liked the video/exercises, please share the link to this post using the #tuneintuesdays hashtag.